Just a small question:I noticed that no(?) FS Sim Add-on - also not the new PMDG-MD11 - is able to simulate the weather-radar functions on the CRTs:Is there a special reason that it is not possible to do so in FS? As a "only-user" (and not developer) I would have assumed that simulating the TCAS with warning indications of other aircrafts in the vicinity is much more diffult than implementing the WX-radar...(?)Many thanks! :)KRSusan

>Just a small question:>>I noticed that no(?) FS Sim Add-on - also not the new>PMDG-MD11 - is able to simulate the weather-radar functions on>the CRTs:>>Is there a special reason that it is not possible to do so in>FS? As a "only-user" (and not developer) I would have assumed>that simulating the TCAS with warning indications of other>aircrafts in the vicinity is much more diffult than>implementing the WX-radar...(?)>>Many thanks! :)>>KR>SusanMy guess is a big frame rate hit and being they're aiming it for a wide range of computers.Michael P.

there are a few add-ons from other developers with integrated wx radar f.e. the Digital Aviation Fokker 70/100.As far as I know, PMDG did not implement wx radar due to the fact that weather reflection in the radar can not be simluated to an acceptable level of reality to be on par with the rest of the aircraft systems.ThanksJoerg

I figured there was a good reason they didn't add it.Michael P.

Thanks for your very quick replies, guys! :)Concerning the FPS-rate: As I said I am no programmer...and of course there must be a serious reason for WX-missing: The only thing is that I wonder that TCAS simulation should not be a FPS-killer, too?!Could it be that PMDG left WX completely out because of the pretty bad WX simulation in FS itself...e.g. the rapid and drastic changes when flying from one WX-area to another (huge IAS-changes resulting in overspeed warnings sometimes etc.)? (Bytheway I still have those negative FS-WX effects though using registed FSUIPC)

This issue has many long threads. We all wish for some kind of wx radar but the FS wx engine just can't simulate area precipitation in any realistic manner. For example, if you are using ASX, open their map during flight and turn on precipation viewing and all you see are blobs of green where it's "raining." No frontal images, no air mass convective storms, nothing real.

It has absolutely nothing to do with FPS - it's just drawing stuff on the screen like anything else we do. That's not the issue, it's the lack of any realistic parameters for precip in the FS weather engine (and the associated lack of real consequences for flying through weather) that are the reasons.

Wouldn't just thunderstorms instead of precipitation allow for some degree of realism on the weather radar? They are clearly defined in FS weathersystem. The area around a station reporting thunderstorms could be nicely depicted in red and amber color tones with some green around it.Gerrit

I used AS6 and RealtyXP Wx500 radar back in FS9 and it painted very realistic targets, so I am amazed that folks are saying it's not possible in FSX.JayXPPro SP2FSX SP2AMD64 FX-60 Dual Core 2.61 GHz8800GTS-640 megs2 Gigs Kingston RAMFEX-GEX-UTUSA-FSGenesis-and a bunch of other stuffComputer optimized by www.fs-gs.com

Re: Rapid Changes in Air SpeedI do not have FSX therefore my suggestions apply to FSUIPC 3.82 up for FS9.If offered in a weather application such as Active Sky turn on wind smoothing. If not see if it is available in your FSUIPC weather options. It slows down the rate of the wind vector change as the weather zones change. There are some settings there you can try.I have had some sudden airspeed changes (with altitude changes) in crossing severe vertical drafts. In FS9.cfg I moved the turbulence factor to 0.4. Perhaps FSX has such a parameter.

>I used AS6 and RealtyXP Wx500 radar back in FS9 and it>painted very realistic targetsHow do you know how realistic they were? Because they looked pretty on the screen? Did you ask any pilot flying at the same time (in real life) in the same place and having the radar pointed in the same direction what did he see on his scope? Did you compare results?. I bet there would be little resemblance between his picture and yours.Michael J.http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9320/apollo17vf7.jpg

There are a couple add-ons that simulate the WX radar pretty well. The PSS 777 and the Dreamfleet/flight1 727 both simulate different systems and they seem to both work very well. When theres clouds you get a paint and depending on the intensity of the precipitation you will get the various colors.( Green, yellow and red.) I do not understand why PMDG does not include a WX radar when these other less sophisticated sims include them, and they arent just eye candy they actually paint based on the actual conditions in the sim. Perhaps PMDG could work something out with RealityXP and get us a WX radar? Considering the hefty price we have paid for the MD-11 it seems completely reasonable to me. Bryan.

HiFor a possible solution to the rapid wind speed and direction issues in FS, and if you have a registered copy of FSUIPC, try the following settingsOpen FSUIPCOnce open click on the Winds Tab, check the smoothing block and then on the three block stacked vertically place 0 in the top block to limit changes to how many knots or degrees, and 5 in the middle block for seconds for each one knot or degree change, and 8 in the bottom block for the smoothing delay.This works for me, when using FS weather or when using ActiveSkyX.I can

>How do you know how realistic they were? Because they looked>pretty on the screen? Did you ask any pilot flying at the same>time (in real life) in the same place and having the radar>pointed in the same direction what did he see on his scope?>Did you compare results?. I bet there would be little>resemblance between his picture and yours.That's the most totally wrong kind of parallel.Since you don't have sensors layed out every 10cm in every direction in the atmosphere, i doubt any kind of simulating engine can ever represent weather at a height starting from ground reports and altitude forecasts.Given this strong point, "realism" means that if an elaboration sets a certain zone in a meteo condition (raining for example), how detaild this condition is represented.In the case of Microsoft Flight Simulator the answer is: very poorly.There are no thermals, no fronts, no water masses, no anything that gets depicted on a weather radar.That's why it doesn't get programmed.Not because representation is not timely accurate with real life, that would be crazy even to try...

>colors.( Green, yellow and red.) I do not understand why PMDG>does not include a WX radar when these other less>sophisticated sims include them, I think the best answer is thishttp://serialconsign.com/images/2008/07/doppler-radar.pngreal weather radarhttp://www.avsim.com/pages/0206/737PIC/Weather-Radar.jpgfs weather radarThere's quite a difference.The second is faked up because there is no such data available.